27 posts categorized "Film/Video"

October 24, 2010

The used-book-loving folks at Bookmans Entertainment Exchange in Arizona created this literary domino effect video. It captures my sentiment about bookstores: fun places full of information and wonder.

August 29, 2010

"How to be alone" by filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis is beautiful and perceptive in word, image and tune.

After viewing the video many times, I realized that the benefits of being alone are visually implied in the film by Tanya's being in nature, outside or away from screens which constantly and digitally connect us to others.

One of my favorite lines is "Start simple: things you may have previously avoided based on your 'Avoid Being Alone Principles.'" What's yours?

August 02, 2010

I found "Stop motion with wolf and pig." (see above) in a round-about way, one which has brought up some interesting considerations about Web culture.

While visiting swissmiss, I saw The PEN Story, a stop-motion video with a very distinctive style. I tweeted about it, I was so impressed by it. Then I read the comments associated with the post, and two commenters said that The PEN Story was a copy of "Stop motion with wolf and pig." I went to YouTube to see if that could be true.

Countless animators use stop-motion techniques, and PEN clearly isn't a copy of Wolf. However, the visual narrative of PEN so completely mirrors Wolf that I'm surprised the follower didn't credit or reference the originator in some way.

Am I missing something? Is there a video created in this style with the same visual anchor points (i.e., envelope, table, room, water, path) even before Wolf? Are so many photographers/animators making videos in this style that its hard to find the precise starting point?

This raised many questions for me about inspiration, remixing and Web ethics in this closely connected and highly fluid digital environment. Anybody have details or thoughts which could help clarify this?

July 26, 2010

Mashups are, according to a Wikipedia entry which needs some editing and discussion around its content, almost a decade old. (Music sampling has existed for decades.) The genre continues to evolve, with stand-outs going viral and their creators/DJs gaining worldwide recognition.

"Carpenter's Wonderwall" is one such example: a song/video blend created by DJ Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions. It starts with Oasis's "Wonderwall" and is joined by The Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," bridging hits from different musical eras. It's brilliant on so many levels — enjoy.

July 23, 2010

As I follow astronauts like Mike Massimino on Twitter as they tweet from space, it's easy to learn bits of what life is like beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Before Internet access and the development of Web 2.0 and social media, there were few widely available, multimedia records of the astronaut experience. Below is a compelling video clip from the documentary For All Mankind, directed by Al Reinert with a musical score by Brian Eno and originally released in 1989. (Its re-release on DVD is now available.) In a 2009 article, Reinert explained his focus behind the movie:

What I wanted to do was make a film that communicated what it felt
like to go to the moon. Really put you in the shoes of the astronauts.
That's still the kind of movie that I would want to watch.

March 17, 2010

For the last couple of years, I have been following the original Polaroid film's (and camera's) demise. In 2008, its parent company announced that it would stop making the film, though it would license the technology to others who still wished to make it.

The Polaroid's immediacy was its magic, and when digital photography became affordable and popular, it seemed to decisively prompt its extinction, moving some to hold memorial exhibitions and funerals. While I never used a Polaroid on a regular basis, I have albums
peppered with these special photos from over the years. I felt sad that this technology so symbolic of my childhood was about to
disappear.

Others began to mourn a potential Polaroid loss, too. A dedicated group called The
Impossible Project, which closely monitored the classic Polaroid
denouement, set up a web site and rallied artists, photographers, creatives and Polaroid fans worldwide to figure out a way to preserve this photographic form. The attention it created may have influenced Polaroid's initial decision on its namesake camera's fate.

This past January, at the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Polaroid company announced its next-generation camera, a 21st-century child of classic Polaroid — the Pic 1000. This new camera uses the same Polaroid film as did the first-model camera, the SX-70 (released in 1972), and its successors.

The classic Polaroid camera's lifespan has been extended. In honor of this, I'm featuring an 11-minute film by Charles and Ray Eames that explains how the camera works. Like the images the Polaroid produces, this ad/video is a snapshot of another time and place; there's something sweetly nostalgic about it, yet it also explains the photographic process taking place within the camera in clear, fascinating detail. (At about 4:20, the Eames perspective and illustrated narrative shows distinctly.)

Read more about inventor Edwin Land, who discovered how to polarize light and is one of Polaroid's co-founders, here.

March 25, 2009

This trailer piqued my curiosity. How does a film, which will run (most likely) approximately 90 minutes, stay true to the narrative of a 37-page children's book?

I've just looked through my copy of Where the Wild Things ArebyMaurice Sendak, and I've estimated that twenty-seven of the pages are illustrated. (Some are image only, and on others, the image takes up most of the page with a bit of accompanying text.)

The best films-based-on-books capture the essence of the book. While most novels' plots are too extensive to show completely within an acceptable movie time limit, a film's story—sincerely told and authentically rendered—can do the original work justice.

The trailer shows so much not even hinted at in the original. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the film stands on its own—I'd really like to see this!

August 02, 2008

Matinée Muse, now in its third week, is a blog that presents two weekly creativity prompts based on movie themes. You can participate in this online community by following three steps:

Use the Matinée Muse prompts to inspire your creativity. (You don't have to write about the movie, though you may.)

Write a poem or a short story, or create some artwork or take a photograph—related to one of the prompts.

After you have created your work, post it to your site, and add that post's link to the comments of the Matinée Muse post.

Other MM members will visit your post and comment on your work. If you haven't participated in an online-prompt community before, introduce yourself by commenting on other's posts; many (if not all) of the bloggers you visit will click through to see your work in return.

Participating in online-prompt communities can have many benefits:

-- If you create every week consistently, you get regular practice in your art form and, thus, get better at it.

-- You build a body of work over time. (A year of doing the weekly prompts = 52 new works! What a vibrant, current portfolio that would be.)

-- Seeing other takes on the same prompt expands and challenges your interpretation of the prompt. I consider this healthy artistic and intellectual brain exercise.

-- If you're suffering from a writing or art-making block, switching creative gears for a moment and approaching a prompt with lightness and fun can keep you creating. Keeping creative energy flowing builds your momentum and staves off long creative dry spells which can deplete artistic energy.

-- Regularly commenting on other bloggers' works creates an online creative community and network.

One extra bonus for movie lovers: MM features movie poster images and links to more information about all films mentioned. One of this week's prompts is based on the classic whose poster is shown above.

July 10, 2008

If you're reading this post, you spend some time online. And if you've spent any time online over the past week, you have probably seen the following massively played video.

While I've enjoyed Dancing Matt Harding's joyful, international dance-travel just because it's magical, I've discovered another compelling reason why he is a revolutionary of inspiration. One of today's posts on the Well blog from the New York Times mentions studies which tie dancing to increased brain functioning and healing. An excerpt:

...A telling 2003 New England Journal of Medicine report
showed a lower risk for dementia among people over 75 who regularly
danced during leisure time. But what was so surprising about the report
is that other types of physical exercise didn’t affect dementia risk —
dancing was the only physical activity that made a difference.

Other studies have shown music plays an important role in depression. Dance therapy has been used to relieve anxiety about taking tests, and researchers are studying the tango to help patients with Parkinson’s. Dance therapy has been shown to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients as well...

Hello and welcome!

My name is Kristin Gorski. I recently earned my doctorate (EdD) in instructional technology and media. My research focuses on technology and literacies, writing in digital spaces, and how media literacy may support academic literacy (among other incredibly interesting topics). On occasion, I’m also a freelance writer and editor. “Write now is good.” is my personal blog about writing, creativity and inspiration (with healthy doses of technology in relevant places). I started it in blogging's heyday (2006) and still post to it, time permitting. If you'd like to collaborate on a project, have writing/technology/creativity info to share, or want to say, "Hi," contact me at kgwritenow (at) yahoo dot com.
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